If someone were to ask you how many P’s are in the making of a speech, you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s only one. Strictly speaking, of course, you’d be right. But if you intend to deliver a speech, you’d better remember that there are, in fact, three P’s in crafting a speech: pace, poise, and polish.
And if you can incorporate these three P’s into your speech, you’ll be sure to make a good impression on almost any audience you meet.
Passed. This is a P for ‘make or break’. Get it wrong and your audience will be bored to tears and struggle to hide their yawns from you. gold they’ll nudge their nearby neighbor into asking if they heard what you said because they missed it.
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of listening to a presentation by a slow speaker, you’ll already realize how tedious being too slow can be. The audience will be itching to yell, “Get it up, huh? I have to be at work tomorrow morning!”
Delivering your speech too slowly guarantees that even the most interesting subject will be dull and soporific.
Delivering too quickly, on the other hand, will simply mean that a large part of your audience will miss out on what you have to say and others will find making sense of your ideas an extremely difficult job. Your job, when speaking to an audience, is to take the hard work out of listening to you speak and allow the audience the luxury of simply relaxing and letting your words filter effortlessly into their awareness.
Speak slowly enough for your audience to absorb what you’re saying, but fast enough to keep your presentation from becoming tedious. Learn to vary your pace throughout your presentation so that your delivery remains engaging to those listening.
Balance. Most speakers only care about the topic of their speeches and the actual construction of their speech. They will spend hours gathering information, arranging it in the correct sequence, choosing an appropriate opening and closing style, and making sure that the pacing and flow of their words is correct.
And of course, all that effort is essential to produce an excellent speech. But it does not stop there. how do you introduce yourself yourself is as important as how you present your words.
Run through this checklist right before you go out in front of your audience:
1. Are your clothing clean, presentable, appropriate, and neatly arranged?
2. Is your hair well styled?
3. Does your body language convey the right impression?
Always remember that the public will begin to form an opinion about you from the moment they see you and long before you start talking. Your poise, that is, the visual impression you give to the public, will be the first element that will influence their decision.
Polish. This is what will make a good speech great. It is also what will allow you to get rid of pre-speech nerves. Thorough preparation is the key to most things in life, and public speaking is no exception.
Practice your speech in front of a mirror, or better yet, in front of your friends and family. Familiarize yourself with the content of your speech, the most effective style of delivery, the incorporation of proper gestures, anything you feel needs to be practiced until it becomes second nature.
Take the time to scrutinize your outfit on stage and pay close attention to your posture. Do not lean, do not slouch, do not slouch and do not allow yourself to show external signs of tension. Polish your performance until it shines! You should strive to appear relaxed, confident, and in control at all times, even if you don’t feel it.
If you can remember the three P’s of ‘speech-making’ – rhythm, poise and polish – you’ll be sure that your speech will be delivered in such a way that any audience will be captivated, entertained and entranced by your performance.